Various designs have been proposed throughout the years for translating rotary motion to linear motion. Other than a common crank mechanism, most designs used structures for varying the location of masses from a center of rotation, to create changing moments of inertia. Such structures suffered from erratic and jerky motion, and the requirement for reciprocating members to be used. Attempts to increase the linear motion ultimately required increases in reciprocal thrust lengths, or larger masses, or both, resulting in very difficult mechanical constraints to overcome. In addition, such structures do not appear to be capable of self-sustained lift.
The present invention is a structure which produces unidirectional force using gyrostats (gyroscope wheels henceforth referred to as gyros) which produces linear motion in a manner which requires no outwardly thrown inertia members, and in its most efficient design produces unidirectional motion in any of the three spacial directions or their resultant. The design thus appears to be able to produce self-supporting lift with respect to its own frame of reference. While the invention may initially appear to defy Newton's third law of motion, it will be shown below that this does not occur.
To understand the concepts behind the invention, consider first a traditional toy gyroscope. It has been well demonstrated that a spinning gyroscope can be supported at the tip of one end of an axis intersecting its spin axis, and the other end will hang in space without support, even when pulled by gravity. The property of gyroscopic inertia is that the direction of the spin axis resists change, including that caused by the force of gravity. For that reason, a gyroscope mounted universally, in double gimbals, will maintain precisely the same orientation in space no matter in which direction its support is turned. However if a force alters the direction of the spin axis, the gyroscope will turn about an axis at right angles to the force for as long as the force is applied. This movement is known as precession. The present invention depends on this property, and uses the precessional force to create linear motion.
Turning to FIG. 1, a three dimensional spacial frame is shown, having mutually orthogonal X,Y and Z axes. A gyro wheel 1 is rotating about an axis A-B, which is parallel to the X axis. The Z axis intersects the plane of the wheel and the A-B axis. Assume that the wheel 1 is spinning in the counterclockwise direction, when one faces from the right hand side into the Y-Z plane. The direction of rotation is shown by the arrow 2. With the wheel spinning, this is the counterpart or equivalent of a gyro, which can be supported at the end of the axis A, and the other end B will remain in position, assuming sufficient rotational velocity and mass at the periphery of the wheel.
Now assume that the axis Z, carrying with it the wheel and axis A-B, is rotated counterclockwise about the axis Y shown, as shown by reference numeral 3, when looking from the left into the plane X-Z. It may be seen that the axis A-B of wheel 1 is carried around the axis Y, and the direction of the spin axis of wheel 1 is changed. The causes a precessional force. Assuming that the axis A-B is supported on axis Z, the precessional force will be at right angles to the force causing the alteration of the direction of axis A-B, and is in the direction shown by arrow F, that is, will tend to produce a force in the X direction through the Z-X intersection or more accurately, through the center of gravity of the structure. It will be assumed that there is a counterweight on the opposite side of the X, Y, Z intersection, and the center of gravity is at that intersection.
On the other hand, if, instead of the Z axis rotating around the Y axis, the Y axis is stable and the Z axis rotated about the X axis, the direction of the spin axis A-B would not change; it would remain parallel to its original position, and no precessional force F would be produced.
A schematic drawing illustrating an embodiment to explain the principles of the present invention is shown in FIG. 2. A three dimensional frame of reference having axes X, Y and Z is shown which is similar to the one in FIG. 1. The gyro wheel at position 1A corresponds to gyro wheel 1 in FIG. 1. In the position shown where the Z axis intersects its plane, the wheel rotates about axis A-B which latter axis is parallel to axis X. The gyro wheel at position 1A is rotating in the counter clockwise direction looking from the right hand side into the plane Y-Z.
Now the axis A-B is rotated (tilted or toppled) counterclockwise looking from the left into the plane X-Z, about the Y axis in the direction 3. Precessional force which is theoretically exactly equal to the A-B axis tilting force acts in the direction F through the Z-X intersection as described with reference to FIG. 1. A torque effect is created whose axis is at right angles to the X-Z plane. This torque causes a twisting motion in the X-Z plane, which exerts a leverage acting through the center of gravity of the machine on which the gyro is mounted.
To visualize the effect, consider a toy fast spinning gyroscope having a horizontal axis and supported at one end. A force from below pushing the supported end upwardly will cause sudden precession of the axis of the spinning gyroscope in a direction at right angles to the upward force, that is, in the horizontal plane. If one would measure the precessional force at the other end of the axis which is unsupported, one would find that, neglecting friction, the precessional force is identical to the lifting, or gyro toppling force. Yet is important to realize that there is no reaction in the opposite direction to the precession, in apparent contradiction to Newton's third law of motion. While this phenomenon has been known for a long time, a description of a theory as to why this precession occurs with no apparent counterreaction may be found in the article "Anti-Gravity Electronics", by Dr. H. Aspden, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Southhampton, found in Electronics and Wireless World, January 1989, pp. 29-31.
In FIG. 2 the wheel at position 1B is the same gyro wheel, but is now located with its A-B axis in the X-Y plane, spinning in a counterclockwise direction when looking from the left to the plane X-Z. The axis A-B intersects the X axis orthogonally.
As the Y axis rotates, rotating the A-B axis around it, it may be seen that the gyro is not toppled; the spin axis direction is not altered, and remains parallel to the Y axis.
In the third position 1C, the gyro wheel, which again is the same gyro wheel as before, has its A-B axis parallel to the X axis, is below the Y axis, and the Z axis intersects its plane. In this case, the direction of the A-B axis is exactly the same as that of gyro wheel at position 1A. However, the gyro wheel is spinning clockwise, when one looks from the right towards the Y-Z plane. Now as the Z axis rotates about the Y axis carrying the gyro wheel the direction of the spin axis A-B changes, the gyro wheel is toppled, and a precessional force is created. In this case since the direction of the A-B axis is the same as that of wheel at 1A, and since the spin axis of the gyro wheel is in the exactly opposite direction, due to the position and toppling direction of the gyro, the force due to the torque causes a leverage through the center of gravity of the machine, and there is a force in the X axis direction which is similar to that of the force caused by toppling of the gyro wheel 1A, and is referenced F1.
In the fourth position, the gyro wheel at position 1D rotates about its A-B axis which intersects the X axis orthogonally. The gyro wheel rotates in the clockwise direction looking from the left into the X-Z plane. Now with the A-B axis parallel to the Y axis and rotating counterclockwise around the Y axis, there is no toppling of the gyro, and no net force along the X axis is created.
It may be seen that with rotation of the gyro wheel about its own A-B axis, the rotation of that axis continuously through 360.degree. while the entire gyro is being rotated around the Y axis, the positions of the gyro wheel can move through the positions shown in FIG. 2 as 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D, and results in a net force in the X direction. In a sense one may consider this as full wave rectification of the precessional force caused by the gyro toppling force, into a linear force acting through the center of gravity of the machine.
It should be noted that the precessional force is, neglecting friction or other losses, equal to the toppling force. Thus if a toppling force is produced by rotary motion, as in the present invention, it is merely the force of that rotary motion that will control the linear force acting on the machine.
In the preferred form of the invention a second gyrostat, toppled in the same manner as the first, is located physically 180.degree. opposite to the first, for balancing purposes and to increase the force on the machine. Such structures can be ganged and produce a motor having toppling gyroscopes around the periphery of a circle, creating an enormous unidirectional force on the machine, with no reaction required on a supporting medium such as a road to create movement.